Predator

Transcript for Bobcat

On screen: Bobcat created by the Arizona Game and Fish Department

The bobcat is found throughout the American Southwest in almost all habitat types, especially in mountains and desert areas where water is available. Bobcats favor rocky, brushy hillsides on which to live and to hunt. The name “bobcat” may have originated from its short tail, which is only six or seven inches long and is always black tipped with white. The bobcat has long legs and very large paws. Large specimens can weigh up to 30 pounds, but the average is only 15 to 20 pounds.

Geographic variations have some effect on coloration. Those found in timber and heavy brush fields are darker with rust-colored tones, while those found in desert areas are generally a paler, tawny gray. Despite its pussycat appearance when seen in repose, the bobcat is quite fierce and is equipped to kill animals as large as a deer. Bobcats get by on a diet of rabbits, ground squirrels, mice, pocket gophers, and wood rats.

Its mating behavior is similar to a house cat’s. Young are usually born in April and May, although litters may be born during almost any month except December and January. It does not dig its own den. If a crevice or a cave is not available, it will den in a dense thicket of brush or sometimes choose a hollow in a log or a tree.

The normal bobcat litter consists of 2 to 3 kittens, born blind and weighing 4 to 8 ounces. Birth occurs after a 60-day gestation period. Kittens are taught hunting skills by their mother until they leave her 9 or 10 months later. Young bobcats appear as lovable and harmless as domestic kittens. But they are wild animals with the ability to inflict severe injury to humans.